From my publisher yesterday:
As I mentioned I have produced it using a less expensive color
printing method. The big advantage is being able to offer the book at
$19.95 vs. the $31.95 price of the previous book.
The downside is that the photo reproduction is not as good. I won't go
into details on what I'm seeing; I'd rather send you the proof and get
your comments. I'll send it out tomorrow to your Ellington address.
If the quality does not meet your approval then we have to return to
using the same printing method that the Italeri book used. The photo
reproduction will be better but the price per page is more than three
times as high. Because this book is 60+ pages longer than the Italeri
book in paperback the Revell book would have to be priced around
$42.95.
At the moment I'm thinking that a hybrid approach might be best.
Because all the work on the inside of the book is done it would be
relatively easy to offer a premium edition of the book printed using
the earlier process. I would issue this in hardcover instead of
paperback and retail it for $59.95, the same price as the Eaglewall
book I published. We would also release the $19.95 budget paperback at
the same time. This would give customers a choice. If they really
wanted top quality they could have it at a price. If not they can get
the inexpensive paperback edition.